A Guide to the Literary-Analysis EssayThis guide is designed to help you write better literary-analysis essays for yourEnglish classes. It contains diagrams, explanations, and many examples to take youthrough each part of the essay.

This booklet is based in part on Cobb County’s A Guide to the Research Paper,Upland High School’s Student Writer’s Handbook, and the MLA Handbook for Writer’sof Research Papers. In addition, essay models are based on actual student papers.

Writing Terms Defined INTRODUCTION: the first paragraph in your essay. It begins

creatively in order to catch your reader’s interest, provides essentialbackground about the literary work, and prepares the reader

for youmajor thesis. The introduction must include the author and

title of thework as well as an explanation of the theme to be discussed.

Otheressential background may include setting, capsule plot

summary, anintroduction of main characters, and definition of terms. The

majorthesis goes in this paragraph usually at the end. Because the major thesis sometimes sounds tacked on, make special attempts to link it to the sentence that precedes it by building on a key word or idea.

CREATIVE OPENING: the beginning sentences of the introduction that

catch the reader’s interest. Ways of beginning creatively include thefollowing:

1) A startling fact or bit of information

„ Ex. Nearly two citizens were arrested as witches during the Salem witch

scare of 1692. Eventually nineteen were hanged, and another was pressed

to death (Marks 65).

2) A snatch of dialogue between two characters„ Ex. “It is another thing. You [Frederic Henry] cannot know about it unless

you have it.”“ Well,” I said. “If I ever get it I will tell you [priest].” (Hemingway 72).With these words, the priest in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms

sendsthe hero, Frederic, in search of the ambiguous “it” in his life.

3) A meaningful quotation (from the work or another source)„ Ex. “To be, or not to be, that is the question” {3.1.57}. This familiar statement

expresses the young prince’s moral dilemma in William Shakespeare’stragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

4) A universal idea.„ Ex.The terrifying scenes a soldier experiences on the front probably follow

him throughout his life—if he manages to survive the war.

5) A rich, vivid description of the setting„Ex. Sleepy Maycomb, like other Southern towns, suffers considerably

duringthe Great Depression. Poverty reaches from the privileged families, likethe Finches, to the Negroes and “white trash” Ewells, who live on theoutskirts of town. Harper Lee paints a vivid picture of life in this humidAlabama town where tempers and bigotry explode into conflict.

6) An analogy or metaphor„ Ex. Life is like a box of chocolates: we never know what we’re going to get.

This element of uncertainty plays a major role in many dramas. Forexample, in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet have no idea what

tragedieslie ahead when they fall so passionately and impetuously in love.

MAJOR THESIS: a statement that provides the subject and overall opinion of your

essay. For a literary analysis your major thesis must (1) relate to the theme of the

work and (2) suggest how this theme is revealed by the author. A good thesis may also suggest the organization of the paper.

„ Ex. Through Paul’s experience behind the lines, at a Russian prisoner of war

camp, and especially under bombardment in the trenches, Erich MariaRemarque realistically shows how war dehumanizes a man.

Sometimes a thesis becomes too cumbersome to fit into one sentence. In such cases, you may express the major thesis as two sentences.

„ Ex. In a Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens shows the process by which a

wasted life can be redeemed. Sidney Carton, through his love for LucieManette, is transformed from a hopeless, bitter man into a hero whose

lifeand death have meaning.

TOPIC SENTENCE/SUPPORT THESIS: the first sentence of a body orsupport paragraph. It identifies one aspect of the major thesis and states a primary reason why the major thesis is true.

example: When he first appears in the novel, Sidney Carton is a loveless

outcast who seems little worth in himself or in others.

BODY: the support paragraphs of your essay. These paragraphs contain supporting

examples (concrete detail) and analysis/explanation (commentary) for your topic

sentences/support theses.

Each paragraph in the body includes (1) a topic sentence/support thesis, (2) integrated concrete detail and commentary, and (3) a concluding sentence. In its simplest form, each body paragraph is organized as follows:

1. topic sentence / support thesis2. lead-in to concrete detail3. concrete detail4. commentary5. transition and lead-in to next concrete detail

6. concrete detail7. commentary8. concluding or clincher sentence

CONCRETE DETAIL: a specific example from the work used to provideevidence for your topic sentence/support thesis. Concrete detail can be a combinationof paraphrase and direct quotation from the work.

example: When Carlton and Darnay first meet at the tavern, Carlton tells

him, “I care for no man on this earth, and no man cares for me” (Dickens

105).

COMMENTARY: your explanation and interpretation of the concrete detail.Commentary tells the reader what the author of the text means or how the concretedetail proves the topic sentence/support thesis. Commentary may includeinterpretation, analysis, argument, insight, and/or reflection. (Helpful hint: In yourbody paragraph, you should have twice as much commentary as concrete detail. Inother words, for every sentence of concrete detail, you should have at least twosentences of commentary.)

example: Carton makes this statement as if he were excusing his rudebehavior to Darnay. Carton, however, is only pretending to be

polite,perhaps to amuse himself. With this seemingly off-the-cuff

remark,Carton reveals a deeper cynicism and his emotional isolation.

TRANSITIONS: words or phrases that connect or “hook” one idea to the next,both between and within paragraphs. Transition devices include using connectingwords as well as repeating key words or using synonyms.

example: Another example… Finally, in the climax…Later in the story… In contrast to this behavior…Not only…but also… Furthermore…

LEAD-IN: phrase or sentence hat prepares the reader for a concrete detail by

introducing the speaker, setting, and/or situation.

„ Ex. Later, however, when the confident Sidney Carton returns alone to his

home, his alienation and unhappiness become apparent: “Climbing into a

high chamber in a well of houses, he threw himself down in his clothes on a

neglected bed, and its pillow was wet with wasted tears” (Dickens 211).

CLINCHER/CONCLUDING SENTENCE: last sentence of the body paragraph. Itconcludes the paragraph by trying the concrete details and commentary back to themajor thesis.

„ Ex.Thus, before Carton experiences love, he is able to convince himself

that the world has no meaning.

CONLUSION: last paragraph in your essay. This paragraph should begin byechoing your major thesis without repeating the words verbatim. Then,

theconclusion should broaden from the thesis statements to answer the

“so what?”question your reader may have after reading your essay. The conclusion should do one or more of the following:

1) Reflect on how your essay topic relates to the book as a whole2) Evaluate how successful the author is in achieving his or her goal or message3) Give a personal statement about the topic4) Make predictions5) Connect back to your creative opening6) Give your opinion of the novel’s value or significance

MLA FORMAT: The Collingswood School District has adopted the ModernLanguage Association (MLA) format as the accepted final draft format for essays and research papers. While there are many style manuals, MLA has been widely used in liberal arts and humanities programs of colleges and universities. The general requirements are the following:

1) Heading: student’s name, teacher’s name, class title and period, date

2) Title of paper3) Header on each pager with student surname, number each

page

4) One side of unlined 8 1/2-by-11 inch paper white paper5) Typed/word processed, double-spaced throughout6) 1/2-inch indention from margin for each paragraph7) one-inch indention from margin on left side only for block

quotations8) one-inch margins on all sides

PLAGIARISM/ACADEMIC HONESTY: Plagiarism is the act of using anotherperson’s ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source. Youare plagiarizing if you do the following:

1) Use someone else’s ideas or examples without giving credit2) Use a slightly changed statement as your own, putting your own

words hereand there and not giving credit3) Fail to use quotation marks around exact sentences, phrases, or

even wordsthat belong to another person4) Cite facts and statistics that someone else has compiled5) Present evidence or testimony taken from someone else’s argument

Plagiarism in student writing is often unintentional. You have probably done a report orresearch paper at some time in your education in which you chose a topic, checked outseveral sources, and copied several sentences or paragraphs form each source. You might have been unaware that you were committing plagiarism. However, as a high school student writing an essay or research paper, you must be aware that anytime you use someone else’s thought, words, or phraseology without giving him or her credit in your paper constitutes plagiarism. Your paper will be credible only if you thoroughlydocument your sources.

PRIMARY SOURCE: The literary work (novel, play, story, poem) to bediscussed in an essay.

„ Ex. Steinbeck’s Of Mice and MenRobert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-tale Heart”

SECONDARY SOURCE: Any source (other than the primary source) referred toin the essay. Secondary sources can include critical analyses, biographies of theauthor, reviews, history books, encyclopedias etc.

When citing primary or secondary sources, follow MLA style for parentheticaldocumentation and “Words Cited” page.

WORKS CITED: a separate page listing all the works cited in an essay. Itsimplifies documentation because it permits you to make only brief

references tothose works in the test (parenthetical documentation). A “Works Cited”

pagediffers from a “Bibliography” in that the latter includes sources

researched but notactually cited in the paper. All the entries on a “Works Cited” page are double spaced.

PARENTHETICAL DOCUMNETATION: a brief parenthetical reference placedwhere a pause would naturally occur to avoid disrupting the flow of

your writing(usually at the end of a sentence, before the period). Most often you

will use theauthor’s last name and page number clearly referring to a source listed

on theWorks Cited page:

„ Ex. Hemingway’s writing declined in his later career (Shien 789)

If you cite the author in the text of your paper, give only the page number in parentheses:

„ Ex. According to Francis Guerin, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

reflects “those same nightmarish shadows that even in our own time threaten to obscure the American Dream” (49).

If two works by the same author appear in your “Works Cited,” add the title or ashortened version of it to distinguish your sources:

„ Ex. “He wouldn’t rest until he had run a mile or more” (Dickens, A Tale 78).

BLOCK QUOTATION: quotations that are set off form the test of the paper.Indent one-inch form the left margin only and double space. Do not use quotationmarks unless they appear in the original.

1) For a prose quotation of more than 4 typed lines

„ Ex. Based on rumors and gossip, the children of Maycomb speculate about Boo Radley’s appearance:

Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging form histracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he couldcatch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate ananimal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There wasa long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth hehad were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and hedrooled most of the time. (Lee13)

2) For any prose dialogue involving 2 or more speakers

„ Ex. During the trial scene, Bob Ewell immediately shows his disrespectfor both the court and his family:

“Are you the father of Mayella Ewell?” was the nextquestion.“Well, if I ain’t I can’t do nothing about it now, her ma’sdead,” was the answer. (Lee 172)

3) for drama quotation involving 2 or more speakers„ Ex. Mama compares her children with a beloved plant:

Mama (looking at her plant and sprinkling a little water on it).They spirited all right, my children. Got to admit they gotspirit—Bennie and Walter. Like this little old plant that ain’t neverhad enough sunshine or nothing and look at it…Ruth (trying to keep Mama from noticing). You…sure…loves thatLittle old thing, don’t you?… (Hansberry 335)

QUOTING POETRY: The format of quoted poetry varies slightly from that of prose.

1) For just 2 or 3 lines of poetry, use a slash with a space on each side [/] toseparate the lines Ex. Juliet’s innocence soon turns to passion when she tellsRomeo in the balcony scene, “My bounty is as boundlessas the sea, / My love as deep; the more I give to thee, / Themore I have, for both are infinite”

2) For quotations longer than 3 lines of poetry, block quote with noquotation marks

„ Ex. Mercutio shows his sarcasm about love when he mocks Romeo’slovesickness for Rosaline:

Romeo! Humors! Madman! Passion! Lover!Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh;Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied!

Cry but “Ay me!” pronounce but “love” and “dove.”(2.1.9-12)

3) for a verse quotation that begins in the middle of a line, position the partialline as it appears in the text

Ex. When the exiled Romeo draws his dagger, FriarLawrence scolds,

Hold thy desperate hand.Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art;Thy tears are womanish, thy wild acts denoteThe unreasonable fury of a beast. (3.3.118-121)

Sample Essay WithPrimary Source Only

Jane Doe

Ms. Tanier

English III honors, period 2

March 19, 2001

The Symbolism of the Conch

For centuries philosophers have debated the question of whether man

is innately evil. William Golding poses this question in his realistic novel Lord

of the Flies. Set on a

tropical island during World War II, the novel begins when schoolboys from

Great

Britain are being flown to safety and their plane is shot down. No adults

survive, and the

boys are left to govern themselves and get rescued. William Golding uses

symbolism in

the form of the conch to represents the concept of society. The boys’

evolving

relationship with the conch illustrates Golding’s theme that humans, when

removed form

the pressures of civilized authority, will become evil.

In the beginning, the boys view the conch as an important symbol that

unites them and gives them the power to deal with their difficult situation.

When the conch is first found and blown, it brings everyone together: “Ralph

found his breath and blew a series of short blasts. Piggy exclaimed, ‘There’s

one!’” (Golding 16). Here Piggy observes one boy emerging from the jungle

but soon boys conform all around. Each comes for his own reason: some for

plain curiosity, other for the prospect of rescue. They all form the first

assembly thanks to the conch. The first job of this assembly is to unite even

further and choose a leader or chief. Once again the conch plays an

important part. It is Ralph who is chosen to be chief, and the main reason for

this is because he holds the conch. When it is put to a vote, the boys

exclaim, “Him with the shell. Ralph! Ralph! Let him be chief with the

trumpet-thing” (Golding 21). Because Ralph possesses the conch, a symbol

of power and authority, he is chosen chief. Thus, at first the conch is an

important object bringing civilizing influences to the boys as they work

together to make the best of a bad situation.

Gradually, however, the conch becomes less important to the boys,

signifying

their gradual turn to evil. When the boys first start a fire on top of the

mountain, Piggy

holds the conch and attempts to speak. But Jack rebukes him by saying, “The

conch

doesn’t count on top of the mountain, so you shut up” (Golding 39). Boys like

Jack

begin to place limitations on the conch and lose respect for it and one

another. Then one day at an assembly, Jack places even less importance on

the conch excluding more of the boys and thus diminishing the democratic

order and authority that the conch provides. He says, “We don’t need the

conch any more. We know who ought to say thins…It’s time some people

knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us”

(Golding 92). Jack’s assertion here clearly connects the demise of the conch

to a change in the social order. Jack is slowly becoming a power-hungry

dictator, and we wee the orderly influence of the conch replaced by man’s

evil impulses.

In the end, the conch loses significance to all but Piggy, and most of the boys

turn into

evil savages. Piggy tells Ralph to call an assembly, and Ralph only laughs.

Finally, after

Piggy’ glasses are stolen, he tells Ralph, “Blow the conch, blow as loud as

you can.” The forest reechoed; and birds lifted, crying out of the treetops, as

on that first morning ages ago” (Golding 154). Piggy believes that the

authority of the conch will once again bring the boys together, but only four

boys meet in this assembly. The rest have joined Jack’s savage tribe. The

goal of their last assemble is to get Piggy’s glasses back form Jack.

Therefore, the assembly moves to Castle Rock where Roger, the torturer and

executioner of Jack’s group, rolls a boulder off the mountain and puts an end

to the conch and its one true supporter:

The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow form chin to knee; the

conch

exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.

Piggy,

saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through

the air

sideways form the rock, turning over as he went…Piggy fell forty

feet and

landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His

head opened and stuff came out and turned red. (Golding 164-

165)

It is fitting here that the destruction of the conch accompanies the boys’ first

intentional

act of murder on the island. Thus their final descent into evil is complete.

Now, with the

authority of the conch destroyed, Jack’s group is given license to become

total savages.

The next day, they would hut Ralph to kill him, thus leaving behind the

civilizing

influences of the conch forever.

Golding uses the conch shell to show the slow slide of the boys into

savagery,

thereby exemplifying the theme that humans have the capability to turn evil.

At first, the

conch brings everyone together; then, as its power erodes, the group breaks

into two.

Finally, the destruction of the conch signals the plunge into total savagery.

By following

the role of the conch in the story, we see how Golding uses it to unify the

central events

of the story around his theme of inevitable evil. Golding is an artist, not a

philosopher,

but through his art he answers the question debated for centuries by

philosophers: Is maninnately evil? According to Lord of the Flies, he is.

Work Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: The Putnam Publishing Group,

1954.

Sample Essay With PrimarySecondary Sources

Joe Smoe

Ms. Tanier

English III honors, period 5

April 1, 2001

The Tragic Fall of Two of Fitzgerald’s Greats

Like the Roman Empire, a Shakespearean hero, Richard Nixon, and O.J

Simpson,

greatness often ends with a tragic downfall. Likewise, Jay Gatsby and Dick

Diver,

fictional characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, suffer a similar calamity because of

their

flawed dreams of success. Gatsby and Diver’s tragic decline in life form the

main

interest in the novels the Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night, respectively.

In these

novels, Fitzgerald shows how both Gatsby and Diver rise from a lower class

to an upper

class through the fulfillment of a false dream. But because they fail to

recognize that truesuccess derives from personal accomplishment rather

than social status and wealth, bothmen inevitably fall from greatness.

[Several paragraphs have been deleted at this point to shorten the

sample essay]

By the end of each novel, Gatsby and Diver are spiraling towards a life

of

disillusionment and emptiness. The repercussions to Diver’s drinking begin

with his

fight with a taxi driver when he refuses to pay the cab fees. After his arrest,

Diver strikes

a policeman in blind fury. In retaliation the Fascist carabinieri badly beats

Diver.

Another consequence from his drinking arrives when he is asked to give up

his

partnership at the clinic after a patient complains of Diver’s alcoholic breath.

His

drinking ends his marriage after he disgraces his family a number of times.

Diver himselfrecognizes the downfall of both his marriage and his life when

he tells Nicole, “Don’t touch me!…I can’t do anything for you anymore. I’m

trying to save myself” (Fitzgerald, Tender 334). Nicole then goes off with

another man much like Daisy who runs off with Tom in The Great Gatsby.

Gatsby’s American Dream shatters when Tom takes Daisy away. Tom even

goes to the extent of giving George Wilson, Gatsby’s killer, probable cause to

shoot Gatsby. Tom falsely convinces Wilson that Gatsby is the man who

cruelly ran down his wife. Only a few attend Gatsby’s funeral: Nick Carraway,

his friend; Owl Eyes, the drunk; and Gatsby’s father. All of Gatsby’s hundreds

of party guests and business associates do not even care enough to show

up. Significantly, even Daisy is nowhere to be seen. The futility of Gatsby’s

life can be seen because Gatsby “fails to understand that he cannot

recapture the past [his fresh, new love for Daisy Buchanan] no matter how

much money he makes, no matter how much wealth he displays”

(Brooker2361). Gatsby and Diver both waste their energy trying to belong in

the upper class when their talents could have been used to build their lives.

This effort to climb theladder to social and financial success leaves them with

nothing more than empty lives and shattered dreams. Gatsby’s life ends with

his lonely funeral, and Diver’s story ends as he unsuccessfully practices

medicine moving from town to town in New York, away from his children, the

luxuries of Europe, and his former career.

Through the final scenes of both books, the wasted lives of Jay Gatsby

and Dick

Diver contrast with their earlier promising futures. For both characters, the

“American

Dream should be pursued with less frantic, orgiastic, prideful, convulsions of

energy and

spirit: (Fraser 6450). Such a huge rise to success only gains for Gatsby and

Diver

materialistic lifestyles devoid of inner depth. Gatsby and Diver’s “success”

quickly turns

hollow, and both ultimately have sown the seeds of their own shattered

dreams and

downfall. At the end, the “Great” Gatsby does not turn out to be as great as

people

believed he was at first sight. Also, Diver “dives” into misery and failure as

his name

suggests. Sadly, the pattern of rise and decline spans a full arch in both

Gatsby’s and

Diver’s lives. They like F. Scott Fitzgerald himself are people unable to

compete

successfully or find happiness in the materialistic world of the twenties.

Today, Western

societies are still fighting this dangerous pursuit for wealth and power.

Gatsby and Diver, along with many others, still believe in the pursuit of

greatness through wealth and material success. As Fitzgerald himself

expresses at the end of the great Gatsby,

“tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther – [to reach for the

American

Dream]. …We [will] beat on, [like] boats against the current, born back

ceaselessly into

the past: (182). As in the lives of Kick Diver, Jay Gatsby, and countless

others, the

pattern and theme of rise and decline continues to manifest itself in society.

Works Cited

Brooker, Benjamin. “The Great Gatsby.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Ed.

Frank N.

Magill. New York: Salem Press, 1983. 2356-2370.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,

1925.

----------.Tender is the Night. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1933.

Fraser, Bonnie. “Tender is the Night.” Masterplots. Ed. Frank n. Magill. New

York:

Salem Press, 1989. 6448-6452.

Scribner, Charles. “Celestial Eyes: From Metamorphosis to Masterpiece.”

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/essays/eyes/eyes.html (1Mar. 2000).

Shain, Charles E. “F. Scott Fitzgerald.” American Writers. Ed. Leonard Unger.

New

York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974. 77-98.